South Sudan: Security Council calls on transitional government to implement peace accord

UN Photo/Isaac Billy

From left: Riek Machar, First Vice-President of South Sudan; President Salva Kiir; and James Wani Igga, Second Vice-President, after the swearing in of a new Transitional Government of National Unity, 29 April 2016.

4 May 2016

The United Nations Security Council today called on the newly formed transitional unity Government of South Sudan to end the cycles of violence and suffering and fully implement the peace agreement signed by warring parties in August 2015.

In a statement to the media, the 15-nation body welcomed the formation on 29 April of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU) as “an important milestone” in implementing the accord.

Recalling the thousands killed, the ongoing human suffering and the deteriorating economic situation, the Council called on the members of the transitional government to “work together to fully implement the agreement and bring an end to the cycles of violence and suffering, including by adhering to the permanent ceasefire, and by urgently creating the transitional institutions envisioned in the agreement, which are needed to maintain security and build trust between the parties.”

The Council also called on the transitional unity Government to urgently remove impediments on the ground to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as there are 2.5 million people displaced from their homes and 6.1 million people in need of such aid.

In addition the new Government was called on to allow the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) free movement to exercise its mandate, including protection of civilians and investigation of human rights violations, while condemning, in the strongest terms, the attack against the UNMISS compound in Bentiu on 25 April.

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the appointment by South Sudan President Salva Kiir of the ministers of the Transitional Government of National Unity, urging the parties to complete the establishment of all transition institutions.